Fire at recycling unit off Bypass triggers panic

TNN | Mar 13, 2018, 06.25 AM IST

KOLKATA: A fire at a recycling unit in Mathpukur off EM Bypass on Sunday afternoon destroyed the unit and a few more polythene ware godowns nearby. While no one was injured, panic gripped the residents on the eastern fringes of the city.

According to a source, the fire broke out at a recycling unit located near Dhapa around 2pm on Sunday. While the fire department is yet to find out the reason behind the fire, locals claimed that the unit had stacked several machineries which could have malfunctioned. Locals said that the unit was being used to recycle different categories of waste, including plastic wastes. Apart from this factory, there were other cottage industrial units that made products from recycled plastic, glass and metal foils.

At around 2 pm, locals heard a loud noise from an area near Dhapa dumping ground. After coming out, they saw thick columns of smoke billowing out of the shanties located near the dumping ground. Locals claimed that they heard sound of LPG cylinder burst and panicked. Many of the locals, living in huts near the recycling unit, took out cylinders stored inside their houses and fled the spot. Residents on the opposite side of EM Bypass rushed to the spot.

The fire had spread fast as combustible materials were stored inside the unit spread over five acres, said an official. Ten fire tenders were pressed into the service and they took around two hours to control the flames.